There are some features in Windows XP which are really annoying. One of these features is Security Center Alert. If Windows Update or Firewall or Antivirus is disabled,Security Center Alert activates in the System tray. Everytime Windows starts,it displays a horrifying message that Your computer might be at risk.
Now there is no direct way to disable Security Center Alerts. But its not imposible and the indirect way is really easy.
1. Start>Run type services.msc and press Enter. Services Window will open.
2. From the Right Pane find Security Center and double click on it.
3. In the Security Center Properties Dialog Box, Press the Stop Button and select Startup Type: Disabled.
4. Now Press OK and close the Services Window.
Your computer might be at risk-such kind of message will not dare to horrify you again.
Disable Security Center Alert (Your computer might be at risk)
Enable Show Hidden Files Option
If you can’t enable Show Hidden Files from folder options (due to virus attack or for any other reason), you can do it by editing the registry. Just follow the following steps:
Start --> Run , type regedit then press OK. The registry editor will open. Go to the following key:
HKEY_LOLCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\Folder\Hidden.
Expand Hidden and select NOHIDDEN. In the right hand pane, see if there is a value called: CheckedValue and delete it. Right click in the right side pane and select New--> DWORD VALUE. Name it exactly as CheckedValue. Double click on it and put 2 as its value data.
Again at the left panel select SHOWALL, look for the key: CheckedValue and delete it also. Like the previous make a new DWORD, Name: CheckedValue . Double click on it and put 1 as its value data.
After doing these steps Open My Computer and from the upper panel and choose Tools>Folder Options. Then put a mark on Show Hidden Files.
Hopefully you will see your Hidden Files.
But you have to remember one thing. If you have virus running in your system then you should remove them first. Otherwise there is every chance that after restarting your system the virus will Hide your Hidden Files again.
Related Posts:
Restore Missing Folder Options.
Manually remove ckvo.exe virus.
Disable "Registry Editing Has Been Disabled By Your Administrator" Message
Restore Missing Folder Options.
Folder options missing is a common phenomenon due to virus attack. It is really annoying when the folder option is missing. But we can very easily get this missing folder option back.
Go to Start --> Run type gpedit.msc then press OK. The Group Policy Editor window will open.
Navigate to:
User Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Windows Components-->Windows Explorer
In the right hand pane Double click on “Removes Folder Options menu from Tools menu” and select the Disabled option.
Close all windows explorer windows and then open again. Your Folder Options should back.
If the method does not work then you can enable the folder options by editing the Registry.
[You have to be careful and precise while editing the registry]
Start --> Run type regedit then press OK. The registry editor will open. Go to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer
In the right hand pane, see if there is a value called NoFolderOptions
If yes then double click on it and change its value data to 0.
If you don’t see any NoFolderOptions then Right click in the right side pane and select New--> DWORD VALUE. Name it as NoFolderOptions. Double click on it and put 0 as its value data. That means you’re forcing the explorer to show folder options.
I think by this time you have got your missing folder options back. And also in future you will not face any problem regarding missing folder options.
But you have to remember one thing. If you have virus running in your system then you should remove them first. Otherwise there is every chance that after restarting your system the virus will disable your Folder Options again.
Related Topics:
1.Disable "Registry Editing Has Been Disabled By Your Administrator" Message
2.Enable Show Hidden Files Option
3.Enable Task Manager
4.Manually remove Funny Ust Scandal Virus
Disable "Registry Editing Has Been Disabled By Your Administrator" Message
In case of virus attack, if you want to run the Registry editor you may see the message:
Registry Editing Has Been Disabled By Your Administrator
If you can't open Registry editor, removing virus become more difficult as you will not be able to delete the Registry Keys created by the virus. Here are some simple methods which will help you to enable Registry Editing again.
1st Method: Using the Group Policy Editor
* Start >Run type gpedit.msc and click OK.
* Navigate to: User Configuration > Administrative Templates> System
* In the right-hand pane, find Prevent Acess to Registry editing Tools and double click on it
* Choose the option “Disabled” and click Ok.
* Close the Group Policy Window
2nd Method: Using Run Command
1. Start >Run and type the following command exactly and press Enter
REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableRegistryTools /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
I think you have got rid of Freaking Registry Editing Has Been Disabled By Your Administrator message.
Prevent Loosing Your My Document's Files by Changing Location.
My Documents folder is one of the vital folders in Windows XP. Many users store their most important files in this folder. The default location for My Documents Folder is C:\Documents and Settings\User. But because of Windows crash or Installing fresh copy of XP, those files stored in My Documents folder are lost.
Now we can avoid this mishap by changing the location of My Documents Folder to another drive except the system drive and the process is simple enough.
Create a folder in the location where you want to store your Documents (except the system drive ) In the Start Menu, Right click on My Documents (This option is not present in classic start menu) and select Properties.
In the Target Tab, click Move and select the folder you created previously. So your My Documents Folder is moved to that location.
Now if Windows crashes, any time you can get your important files from that folder.
Enable Task Manager
In case of virus attack, this message is quite common: Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator.
If you can't open Task Manager, removing virus becomes more difficult as you will not be able to stop the process run by the virus. Here are some simple methods which will help you enable the task manager again.
1st Method: Using the Group Policy Editor
* Start -->Run type gpedit.msc and click OK.
* Navigate to: User Configuration --> Administrative Templates--> System--> Ctrl+Alt+Delete Options
* In the right-hand pane, find “Remove Task Manager” and double click on it
* Choose the option “Disabled” and click Ok.
* Close the Group Policy Window
2nd Method: Using Run Command
1. Start -->Run and type the following command exactly(or Just Copy-Paste) and press Enter
REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Pol icies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
3rd Method: Creating a Registry REG file
* Open Notepad
* Copy and paste the command between the lines into Notepad and save as taskmanager.reg
————————————
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Policies\System] “DisableTaskMgr”=dword:00000000
————————————-
* Double click on the taskmanager.reg file to enter the information into the Windows registry
4th Method: Editing the registry manually
* Start >Run , type REGEDIT and press Enter
* Navigate to the following branch
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies\ System
* In the right pane, find and delete the value named DisableTaskMgr
* Close the registry editor
I think you have got rid of Freaking Task Manager has been disabled by your Administrator message.
Related Posts:
Restore Missing Folder Options.
How Long Has Your Computer Been Running?
Want to know How Long Has Your System Been Running? or When your the Operating system was Installed?
Here's how you verify system up time and many other important information:
Go to Start > Run and type cmd to open command prompt.
At the command prompt window, type systeminfo
This command only works in XP Pro, not in XP Home. You can, however, type net statistics workstation at the command prompt in Home Edition. The first line will tell you the day and time that the system came online.
Here's what I found in My PC:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Host Name: PENTIUM
OS Name: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Version: 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation
OS Configuration: Standalone Workstation
OS Build Type: Multiprocessor Free
Registered Owner: *******
Registered Organization: *******
Product ID: 55274-640-2545084-23717
Original Install Date: 14-Jun-08, 5:58:26 PM
System Up Time: 0 Days, 3 Hours, 1 Minutes, 12 Seconds
System Manufacturer: ATI___
System Model: AWRDACPI
System type: X86-based PC
Processor(s): 1 Processor(s) Installed.
[01]: x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~
3000 Mhz
BIOS Version: ATi - 42302e31
Windows Directory: C:\WINDOWS
System Directory: C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume1
System Locale: en-us;English (United States)
Input Locale: en-us;English (United States)
Time Zone:
Total Physical Memory: 1,278 MB
Available Physical Memory: 815 MB
Virtual Memory: Max Size: 2,048 MB
Virtual Memory: Available: 2,008 MB
Virtual Memory: In Use: 40 MB
Page File Location(s): C:\pagefile.sys
Domain: WORKGROUP
Logon Server: \\PENTIUM
Hotfix(s): 2 Hotfix(s) Installed.
[01]: Q147222
[02]: KB936929 - Service Pack
NetWork Card(s): 1 NIC(s) Installed.
[01]: Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC
Connection Name: Local Area Connection
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related Topics:
Remove "Log Off" from the Start Menu
Remove Shared Documents Folder From My Computer Window
Change the Default directory for Installing New Application.Remove Unwanted Items From Add or Remove Programs Menu
Manually remove Funny Ust Scandal Virus
Funny ust scandal is the most common Virus I have ever seen. I found many of my friends'
computers affected by Funny ust scandal virus. This Funny ust scandal is also a really dangerous virus . It creates Funny ust scandal.avi.exe, SMSS.exe and Killer.exe - these three files,
disables folder options, starts new processes, task Manager automatically disappears after few seconds and system becomes deadly slow. If a Funny ust scandal virus is active in your system and your anti virus does not detect or delete it, then you have to manually remove it.
To Remove Funny ust scandal.avi.exe, SMSS.exe and Killer.exe virus, follow the following process
1. Start --> Run and type cmd
2.In the Command Prompt Window Type
taskkill /f /im smss.exe
taskkill /f /im killer.exe
3. The virus placed some files at the root of every drive so you need to clean them.
del /a:h /f c:\autorun.inf
del /a:h /f c:\smss.exe
del /a:h /f c:\funny ust scandal.avi.exe
Repeat the above commands on the Command Prompt Window for all your drives (Just replace C with the drive letter.)
4. Now you need to delete files in windows folder. So type:
del /a:h /f c:\windows\killer.exe
del /a:h /f c:\windows\autorun.inf
del /a:h /f c:\windows\smss.exe
del /a:h /f c:\windows\funny ust scandal.exe
5. Now you need to delete one more file :
del /a:h /f %userprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\lsass.exe
I think you will be able to remove Funny ust scandal , SMSS.exe and Killer.exe virus from your system successfully.
Caution: While the manual process is going on, do not open any My Computer drive.
Related Posts:
Enable Task Manager
Restore Missing Folder Options.
Manually remove ckvo.exe virus.
Enable Show Hidden Files Option
Disable "Registry Editing Has Been Disabled By Your Administrator" Message
Remove "Log Off" from the Start Menu
Many of us don't use the "Log Off" item of the Stat Menu.You can easily remove "Log Off" from your Start menu. You can follow any one of the two following methods.
1st Method: Using the Group Policy Editor
* Start >Run type gpedit.msc and click OK.
* Navigate to: User Configuration>Administrative Templates> Start Menu and Taskbar
* In the right-hand pane, find “Remove Logoff on the Start Menu” and double click on it
* Choose the option “Enabled” and click Ok.
* Close the Group Policy Window
2nd Method: Editing the registry manually
* Start>Run , type REGEDIT and press Enter
* Navigate to the following branch
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create a new DWORD value and name it NoLogOff. Now add the value 1 to the key.
You may need to reboot for the settings to take effect.
I think this tip will help the users (who don't use the Log Off ) to remove "Log Off" from Start Menu Items.
Related Posts:
Remove Shared Documents Folder From My Computer Window
Many users don't need the Shared Documents Folder in My Computer Window.You can easily remove the Shared Documents Folder.
1st Method: Using the Group Policy Editor
* Start >Run type gpedit.msc and click OK.
* Navigate to: User Configuration>Administrative Templates>Windows Components>Windows Explorer
* In the right-hand pane, find Remove Shared Documents From my Computer and double click on it
* Choose the option “Enabled” and click OK.
* Close the Group Policy Window
2nd Method: Editing the registry manually
* Start>Run , type REGEDIT and press Enter
* Navigate to the following branch
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ My Computer \ NameSpace \ DelegateFolders
You must see a sub-key named {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. If you delete this key, you have effectively removed the My Shared Documents folder.
I think this tip will help the users (who don't use the Shared Documents Folder) to remove Shared Documents from My Computer Window.
Related Posts:
Remove Unwanted Items From Add or Remove Programs Menu
Change the Default directory for Installing New Application.
Remove "Log Off" from the Start Menu
Change the Default directory for Installing New Application.
In WindowsXP C:\Program Files directory is the default base directory for installing new programs. But you may want a different location into which new programs will be installed. This is very much possible.You can change the default installation directory by editing the Registry .
Go to Start > Run. Then type regedit and press OK. The registry editor window will open. Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
Click on CurrentVersion and in the right pan find the value ProgramFilesDir. This value is selected as C:\Program Files by default.
Double click on ProgramFilesDir and change the value data to the location of any valid drive or folder of your choice.
From now on Windows will use that new location as the default installation directory for new programs.
Remove Unwanted Items From Add or Remove Programs Menu
Sometimes it is seen that due to improper uninstall or for any problem, some uninstalled programs are shown in the Add or Remove Programs list. To remove that program from the list, follow the step:
Go to Start> Run, type regedit. Registry Editor will open:
Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Uninstall
Remove any unwanted subkeys under "Uninstall."
You will not find those unwanted programs in the Add or Remove Programs list.
Open Directly With Notepad.
Many apply a registry tweak to have notepad as an option for unknown file types. We frequently see such files which are actually just text, but named with some odd file-extension. And then, some suspicious files which we want to make sure what the contents are. Well, in such cases where the registry tweak is applied, the downside happens to be that even some known files get associated with notepad - but no, all we want is to be able to open a file with notepad - the association part in such cases is unwanted interference. Also, notepad becomes a permanent fixture on the right-click menu - which is again an annoyance.
So what we do, is to have notepad as an option in the Send-To options, of the right-click menu in explorer. It fulfills the purpose to perfection (atleast, in my case). Here's what we do:
1. right-click desktop, choose "New >> Shortcut"
2. Type the location of the item - "notepad" - (that's all, no need to give path)
3. Next >> type name for shortcut - "Edit with Notepad"(or anything you want)
4. Click finish
5. Now right-click this shortcut on the desktop, and choose properties.
6. Confirm that the "target" and "start in" fields are using variables - "%windir%\system32\notepad.exe" - (absolute paths will be problematic if you use this .LNK on machines other than your own)
7. Now, browse to "%UserProfile%\SendTo" in explorer (which means "C:\Documents and Settings\User_Name\SendTo\" folder)
8. And copy the "Edit with Notepad.lnk" file which you already created, to that folder.
9. Right-click on ANY file-type and you will be offered an option to open with notepad, from the SendTo sub-menu.
So now, you just right-click on an .nfo or .eml or .diz file (which are associated with other programs, and are sometimes just plain-text files), and choose "Send To >> Edit with Notepad" and it will open in notepad!
No more botheration of applying registry tweaks for something as simple as this.
Related Topics:
Remove Unwanted Items From Add or Remove Programs Menu
Restore Missing Folder Options.
A Little Fun:Create a file of any size.
Its really Funny. You can create a file whose size will be exactly what you want.
You have to Start by converting the desired file size into hexadecimal notation. You can use the Windows Calculator in Scientific mode do to this. Suppose you want a file of 1 million bytes. Enter 1000000 in the calculator and click on the Hex option to convert it (1 million in hex is F4240.) Pad the result with zeroes at the left until the file size reaches eight digits i.e. 000F4240.
Now open a command prompt window. In Windows 95, 98, or Me, you can do this by entering COMMAND in the Start menu's Run dialog; in Windows NT or XP enter CMD instead. Enter the command DEBUG BIGFILE.DAT and ignore the File not found message. Type RCX and press Enter. Debug will display a colon prompt. Enter the last four digits of the hexadecimal number you calculated (4240, in our example). Type RBX and press Enter, then enter the first four digits of the hexadecimal size (000F, in our example). Enter W for Write and Q for Quit.
You've just created a 1-million-byte file using Debug. Of course you can create a file of any desired size using the same technique.
Create Strong Password.
The passwords are the keys we use to access personal information that we've stored on our computer and in our online accounts.But they often become vulnerable to password crackers. Here are some simple tips which will help you to create strong passwords.
Properties of a strong password
To an attacker, a strong password should appear to be a random string of characters. The following criteria can help our passwords do so:
Make it lengthy
Each character that we add to our password increases the protection that it provides many times over.
The passwords should be 8 or more characters in length; 14 characters or longer is ideal.
Many systems also support use of the space bar in passwords, so we can create a phrase made of many words (a "pass phrase"). A pass phrase is often easier to remember than a simple password, as well as longer and harder to guess.
Combine letters, numbers, and symbols
The greater variety of characters that we have in our password, the harder it is to guess. Other important specifics include:
Use words and phrases that are easy for you to remember, but difficult for others to guess.
The easiest way to remember our passwords and pass phrases is to write them down.
Contrary to popular belief, there is nothing wrong with writing passwords down, but they need to be adequately protected in order to remain secure and effective.
In general, passwords written on a piece of paper are more difficult to compromise across the Internet than a password manager, Web site, or other software-based storage tool, such as password managers.